


Christmas Gifts

by madridistagoblue



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 17:58:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2859866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madridistagoblue/pseuds/madridistagoblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Day and Archie just can't wait to open presents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Gifts

"Maxie?"

A slender man in red silk pajamas turned towards the man who had awoken him with a start. A faint gasp escaped his lips as a shock to his heart tore him out of his dream and into reality.

"Archie, what's wrong?" he asked urgently, sitting up and immediately putting a hand on the other man's shoulder. "Are you alright!?"

The tan man sitting upright in bed next to him laughed and gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder. "Just fine, Max; come on, it's time for presents!"

"Presents…" Maxie repeated monotonously, feeling his heart rate slow down suddenly as he focused his red eyes on the bedside clock. _6:00 AM._ He turned his gaze back to Archie with exasperation, before looking away and sinking back into the mattress.

"Maxie!" Archie called again, somewhat angrily this time, grabbing the redhead by the waist and shaking him gently.

"You can be such a child!" Maxie groaned, curling his body inward and pulling several layers of covers tightly around his frail frame.

"Maxie," Archie pleaded to no avail. "Maxie, you can't be all grumpy on Christmas."

"It's _cold_ ," Maxie yawned. The rush of adrenaline that had made him feel wide awake just moments early had worn off, leaving him even worse for the wear. "And honestly, _Archibald_ , I have never seen you awake before nine o'clock when you're not called into work. You had me terrified that something serious had happened." He buried his face in his pillow now, and stiffened underneath Archie's ever tightening grip.

"Couldn't sleep," Archie replied briskly, pulling back the blankets encasing Maxie's body and reaching his hand down towards Maxie's feet.

"No!" Maxie nearly yelled, kicking the other man in the leg as soon as he felt a finger touch his heel. He pulled his legs in closer and turned to face the culprit.

"You're feet are cold," Archie observed nonchalantly as he looked his serious faced partner in the eyes.

"Then, perhaps, you should refrain from _tickling them_ ," Maxie chided, now sitting up. With that, he pretended to ignore the man next to him, turning away to fuss with his eyebrow length red bangs while staring blankly into space.

Archie tried to suppress a smile, but soon gave in to a hardy laugh. "I didn't even _do_ anything, Max," he guffawed. "But it woke you up!"

Maxie's head whipped to the side immediately, his eyes blinking before focusing on the figure to his right.  "Would you like my presents or not?" he threatened.

Archie smirked, used to the former Magma boss' reaction to such teasing. Such banter had become second nature; he was almost beginning to forget that once the redhead's threats were a matter of life and death.

Without another word, Archie slid his legs over the side of the bed and propelled himself off with a gentle push, landing on the ground as though leaping into a pool of his beloved water. He looked to the bedside table and snatched a pair of thick spectacles, handing them to Maxie before offering his hand to help him down.

Maxie's serious stare softened into a gentle smile as he unfolded the temples of his glasses and slid them on, adjusting them between his thumb and his index finger. With a yawn, he allowed Archie to take his hand and help pull him up unto the wood floor.

"Wake up, babe," Archie joked, entwining his fingers with Maxie's and dragging his half-asleep body towards the staircase.

Maxie replied with no more than an intonated moan, but allowed himself to be walked downstairs where the tree sat in front of a large picture window. The sky behind the window was still black, masking the large granite porch and the swimming pool just below. The only lights in the room came from the strings of bulbs covering the Christmas tree.

Archie let go of Maxie's hand and kneeled under the tree, searching the boxes of wrapped presents for something specific.

Maxie joined him underneath the tree and reached out for a box marked _To: Maxie_. With his preferred box now in hand, Archie turned around, noticing the box the former Magma boss now held.

"Oh, not that one," Archie shook his head, presenting Maxie with the box in his hand. "Let's do best presents first."

"Isn't the saying 'save the best for last'?" Maxie inquired.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Archie replied without missing a beat. "I'm not really into all these sayings like you are, but I believe there's one that says 'rules are meant to be broken'?"

"And an ancient proverb that says Archie is a smartass," Maxie quipped. He set the box he was holding down to his side and took the one from the pirate's hands, laying it in front of him. "But if you're really so impatient…" Maxie continued, and scootching forward on his hands and knees began to search under the tree.

A minute later, he presented Archie with a very small, spherical package. The more muscular man held out his hands, his arms dropping suddenly as the weight of the package was transferred. "That's surprisingly heavy," he remarked, bringing the package up towards his eyes and turning it gently in his hand.  After scrutinizing the still wrapped object for a moment, he turned to Maxie with a look of disappointment.

"Your best gift to me…is a rock?" he complained.

"You didn't even open it," Maxie retorted, crossing his arms defiantly.

"Given the weight, and the size, and my knowledge of you, Maxie…" Archie trailed off "…dammit give me something else, I'll open the stupid rock later!"

"No. This is the best gift, open it now," Maxie commanded.

"Fine," Archie rolled his eyes. "You and your rocks."

"You don't even know if it's a rock," Maxie argued.

"Yeah, but you didn't deny it," Archie responded, digging his nails into the wrapping paper and pulling the paper off with a satisfying rip.

By the time half the wrapping paper had been removed from the spherical object, realization dawned in Archie's eyes. Impatiently, he pulled off the rest and examined the blue-colored orb in his hands with the same eagerness he had shown when he first popped out of bed. "Maxie…this is…"

"Sharpedonite -- a very rare stone," Maxie began sarcastically, "it's most defining property is its reactivity with a mineral known as a keystone…"

"Where did you find this?" Archie asked, ignoring Maxie's lecture.

"We employed only Hoenn's finest geologists in Team Magma," he began nonchalantly, "we rarely collected any samples weren't deemed necessary, but we had records of where everything was located. When you gave your sharpedonite away to May, I may have…inquired about it. Gotten in touch with some old contacts…"

Archie set the stone on the floor, and brought a hand to his face. Maxie looked at him more carefully, realizing suddenly that there were tears forming in his eyes.

"You went through all that trouble…" he said behind a labored breath, moving himself closer towards the man who had given him the gift.

"For a rock?" Maxie asked.

"For me," Archie replied, wrapping his arms suddenly around the redhead.

Maxie let out a small laugh, reciprocating the gesture and resting his head on Archie's shoulder. "Archie…when have I _ever_ not given _everything_ for something that is important to me?" he asked.

Archie pulled back suddenly, moving his face towards Maxie's and giving him a chaste kiss on the lip. He moved away gently, and heard Maxie respond with a small sigh. "I love you," the former Team Aqua boss said gently, finding a reply in the contented smile on Maxie's lips and a confident, satisfied look in his red eyes, though he said nothing in return.

"Now can you beat that?" Maxie smiled, picking up the package addressed to himself as though it were a challenge.

"Oh, I think you'll like this," Archie replied.

Maxie ran his fingers over the rectangular object, but could deduce no more than the fact that it was wrapped in a box. Gently he turned the box over and stuck one finger under the affixed tape, pulling the wrapping paper loose without tearing it.

"It's not like we're going to keep the paper, Maxie," Archie sighed. "Just rip it!"

Maxie snapped out of his concentration and looked up at Archie.  "I'm offended by your method of opening the presents," he said. 

Archie chuckled, still unsure how Maxie managed to keep a straight face when saying such obviously teasing things. "And I'm offended by your inability to have fun," the former Team Aqua boss retorted.

"Being _neat_ does not impede on fun," Maxie replied.

"Totally does," Archie snickered.

There banter was stopped as Maxie slipped the wrapping paper off of the box and opened it to reveal the contents.

Inside was a simple wooden picture frame boarding a photo that had become slightly discolored with age. Behind the glass were two college aged boys, a muscular tan young man in a tight fitting _University of Rustboro Swimming_ t-shirt whose arm was wrapped tightly around a slightly shorter bespeckled redhead wearing an oversized long-sleeved _University of Rustboro Geology_ t-shirt.

"Where did you get this?" Maxie asked, his red eyes focusing on the man beside him.

"We got them printed at the U-of-R club's fair, don't you remember?" Archie asked, his voice soft and layered with just a hint of hurt. "When we joined that environmental group?"

"No, obviously, I remember," Maxie tried to retort, though his voice was somewhat distant. "We printed two identical copies. I have mine…in my desk…in my office…I just thought…" Maxie stopped in the middle of his thought.

"You thought what?" Archie asked.

"I didn't think you would have kept it," Maxie finished, his face becoming slightly red as he made the honest admission. "You know…after everything that happened. I thought maybe you wanted to forget…"

"Maxie," Archie said, placing a hand on the former Team Magma bosses' shoulder, "even when I thought I might hate you -- I never wanted to forget."

Maxie stared at Archie for a moment, saying nothing, and then turned his eyes back towards the picture. "You know," he mused, "this would look really nice on the fireplace."

"You think so?" Archie asked, taking his own gift out of the box and examining it.

"Yeah," Maxie replied, leaning in close to the pirate now.

Archie set down the gift and pulled the smaller man into his arms.

 "You know -- for once -- I think I agree with you," Archie said.

"Please, don't get mushy on me," Maxie replied, shaking his head, and silenced any further pleasantry with the pressure of his soft lips. 


End file.
